As a few World Poker Tour final tables are contested in Las Vegas, the WPT Rolling Thunder – a Tour event that always makes me think of the 1980’s arcade game – marches on in California. Heading into Day 3, it is Anthony Zinno with the chip lead, holding 612,000 chips entering Monday’s action.
Zinno is no stranger to chip leads and going deep in World Poker Tour Main Events. He earned the WPT Player of the Year crowns in Season XIII, a season which included an incredible back-to-back titles. In February 2015, he won the WPT Fallsview Poker Classic and then followed it up just a couple weeks later with a triumph at the WPT L.A. Poker Classic, the latter good for more than a million dollars. All told on the World Poker Tour, Zinno has three titles, five final tables, and nearly $2.9 million in career earnings.
Overall, he has more than $8.3 million in live tournament winnings.
Speaking with WPT.com after Day 2, Zinno provided an informative analysis of his day. Most players just say something like, “I just played my game and got good cards,” but Zinno gave some insight:
Today was pretty awesome, I love when I have the opportunity to come in with a pretty big stack, because you play a lot more hands than when you come in with 40 bigs. I was able to play more hands than usual, and I had a nice linear chip-up from my 125 to 230 with very few showdowns, and then that one magic hand that you dream of in tournaments occurred where I picked up aces against a guy’s ace-king. He’s a very good player, and once I four-bet him, he should be shoving ace-king, so the hand played itself.
We would provide detail that A-A- versus A-K hand, but well, Zinno did that already.
“I doubled with my 230, and then from there, of course, it was just the utilization of the big stack. I had the ability to see more flops, play more hands, more maneuverability almost like a cash-game style,” Zinno added.
By the time registration for WPT Rolling Thunder closed, the entry total had hit 280, creating a $1.302 million prize pool. Payouts go down to 35th place with a min-cash of $9,305. First place will receive just over $300,000.
When there are 36 players remaining – exactly on the money bubble – the tables will be cut to six-handed. That’s more than fine for Zinno, as he told WPT.com that he loves playing six-handed because it’s just more fun than full-ring (more action, most likely) and it is simply more comfortable to sit at the table with fewer people. Though this tournament is No-Limit Hold’em, he suggested that players take a look at six-handed fixed-limit games.
Day 3 is currently underway on the West Coast and will continue until the six-handed final table is determined.
2019 World Poker Tour Rolling Thunder Main Event – Day 2 Chip Leaders
1. Anthony Zinno – 612,000
2. Shankar Pillai – 554,000
3. Jon Hill – 553,000
4. Ajay Chabra – 524,000
5. Jake Schwartz – 522,000
6. Joseph Cheong – 472,000
7. Pat Lyons – 464,000
8. Dylan Linde – 434,000
9. Ali Hamidizadeh – 385,000
10. Tim McDermott – 358,000
Lead photo credit: thundervalleyresort.com